The Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences at UC Irvine has established a new Department of Systems Biology, the first new academic department created since the school's four founding departments in 1965. This move formalizes an area of study that focuses on how biological components, such as molecules, cells, tissues, and organs, interact as complex networks.
Traditional biology has historically focused on dissecting individual elements like genes or proteins. Systems biology, in contrast, seeks to understand how these parts work together, asking questions like how a handful of genes produces a functioning organ or how a tumor can hijack established biological rules. Frank LaFerla, the Dr. Lionel and Fay Ng Dean of the Dunlop School, stated that “establishing the Department of Systems Biology reflects where the life sciences are headed.”
The field integrates a wide range of disciplines including mathematics, engineering, physics, computer science, and various branches of biology and medicine. Its tools include computational modeling, genomics, and advanced imaging. A central insight is that biological systems are shaped by natural selection to perform tasks reliably and efficiently, much like well-designed engineering systems.
A key application of systems biology is cancer research. The Center for Cancer Systems Biology, established at UC Irvine in 2018 with a $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, investigates how tumors grow and exploit normal tissue mechanisms. An additional $10 million grant in 2025 extended this work, focusing on melanoma, chronic myeloid leukemia, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Researchers are combining mathematical modeling with single-cell genomics to understand tumor dynamics.
UC Irvine has engaged in systems biology for over two decades. The Center for Complex Biological Systems, founded in 2001, brought together a diverse group of scholars and was recognized by the National Institutes of Health. This infrastructure now forms the foundation for the new department.
Arthur Lander, a Distinguished Professor and Donald Bren Professor, will lead the new department. He previously chaired the Department of Developmental & Cell Biology and directed the Center for Complex Biological Systems. Lander noted that “systems biology has always been about asking questions that can’t be answered by looking at things one piece at a time.”
Establishing a department allows for hiring and tenuring faculty, granting degrees, and training future scientists to think across disciplines from the start. This institutional home ensures that systems biology is recognized as a distinct discipline with specialized training, rather than remaining perpetually interdisciplinary and siloed. Graduates will gain skills in quantitative and computational approaches, valuable for careers in academia, medicine, biotechnology, and public health. This fifth department marks a significant evolution for the school, 61 years after its opening.
